The key regular season for the East Span5span playoffs ticket competition has the last 7 seconds left. The Wizards still rely on Westbrook's key three-pointer to hold a one-point lead.
But then, the Raptors' Gary Trent Jr. caught a backcourt rebound and advanced all the way to the frontcourt, making a lore three-pointer. 103 to 101, the Raptors escaped, Wizards ate the 7th loss in the last 9 games, and gradually moved away from the playoffs.
This is NBA , a world where a player’s performance is completely opposite because of a goal or not. After the game, the discussion about Russell Westbrook is still not over. In the past two weeks, there have been too many topics lingering around the former MVP player. Although he is still a player who averaged 21.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game this season, the look in his eyes from the world has been completely different from a few years ago.
In this win-win league, now some people call him "team cancer" and some people call him "data brush"-of course, the same as a few years ago, at that time Some people will describe Westbrook this way, and unlike a few years ago, few people now defend him.
5 years ago, that was the age when this alliance would yell for every triple-double of Westbrook.After Durant left Oklahoma, he put on his shoulders the team that had been built with the "Thunder Doubles" as the core, trying to do two things with one person, and do Not bad. In December 2016, he was already a player averaging 30+10+10 per game. After a game against the Utah Jazz, the reporter asked him if his condition has declined because he "has not won a triple-double for the third consecutive game."
At that time, he responded to this topic for the first time: "Three doubles is not a big deal. I don't care about it at all." Different reporters repeated it 100 times, but this did not affect his ability to win the triple-double day after day. It was as natural as eating and drinking water, so that we all seemed to have antibodies to this data itself. It’s easy to forget that Scotty Pippen, who is known for his comprehensive skills, has only 17 triple-doubles in his career, while Kevin Garnett is 16, the omnipotent Larry Bird_ There are 59 span8span. Triple-doubles used to be precious data that Ricky Davis, Bob Sura, and Anthony Bowie were willing to risk the world’s bad faith and maliciously obtained at the end of the game, but now they have become negative and worthy of criticism. , Becoming a player is hard evidence of a data brush.
In 2017, his average triple-double won him the MVP, but in 2021, his average triple-double has already looked boring. After the historic super triple-double against the Pacers , Stephen A. Smith took the lead: "Westbrook's stats are meaningless in my opinion. He has reached this stage of his career.The important thing is whether to reach another level and win the championship, but Westbrook hasn't changed anything. "_Span8span
In a sense, he was right. The world will change, only Westbrook will not change. It’s not that he doesn’t understand, the world changes fast.
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0 10 years ago, when Mr. Yang explained the Thunder Ball, he put forward the well-known concept that fans talked about: "Let you do a thousand tricks, I have two fairies." 10 years later, Durant has experienced serious injuries Changing teams, running in with different stars, playing in a completely different way from that time, but after Westbrook also experienced major injuries, changing teams, and running in with different stars, he is still playing in exactly the same way as when he was 22 years old.
Westbrook and Durant have never been the same kind of people. With the passing of time, Durant’s circle of friends has changed many people, such as a constant agent and spirit Mentors, personal coaches, etc. But Westbrook’s circle of friends has never changed, that is, parents, wives, teammates, and agents.
For Durant, there is a gain or loss. The balance always exists, and questions such as who can make him better and who will think for him are always around him. He is too good, and he has never given up to be better. In different In his tactical system, he can always get through at one point, and then integrate quickly and efficiently. Unlike Westbrook, he is simpler. You only need to communicate frankly with him, and he will treat you sincerely and cautiously: make him believe in you It may take several years, but if you get his trust, he will treat you as his brother. And he will never betray his brother.
His simplicity convinced him,There are always things that are more important than statistics, records, honors and money. The world is too complicated, so complicated that it is full of calculations and tactics. Westbrook doesn't like these.
This simplicity is also reflected in his game. Generally speaking, we expect a star guard to complete some transformations after the age of 30. As the speed slows down and their physical functions decline, they will try to use experience and skills to control the game more. Jason Kidd did it, Chris Paul did it, Tony Parker , Gary Payton, they did it all.
But Westbrook is not an ordinary star guard. At the age of 32, the words we describe him are still "fearless" and "decisive." He threw himself into the crowd like he did when he was young, and then tried to pass the ball to the open shooter. Had it not been for the impressive shooting percentage of the Wizards (the Wizards made 34.2% of their three-pointers and ranked 28th in the league), his assist data would have been better than it is now. But there are also many rounds, such a pass will directly translate into a turnover-Westbrook averaged 5.0 turnovers per game this season, only lower than his MVP season.
Steven A. Smith blamed Westbrook for not making changes. The logic itself is ridiculous. Because if Westbrook is a player who is easy to make changes, he will not be where he is today.
From an unspecified non-five-star high school student, to a UCLA backup point guard, to the NBA lottery show, he has come all the way. He became the All-Star "without change" and the MVP "without change".He has huge self-esteem and self-confidence. These secrets of success when he was young and frivolous, are still with him when he fell into a trough.
4 years ago, that night when the Denver Nuggets were beaten and scored 50 points and a triple-double, Westbrook told us like this: "I put tons of pressure on my shoulders. No matter what. Whether to win or lose, I want to do everything on the court: defense, rebounding, passing, leading the team. I think that is my mission, and I will do my best to do that every night. "_Span8span
Now he is the same. He still carried the team on his shoulders in his own way. He still keeps the ball in his hands for the most time, and then tries to lead the team's offense by his own set.
The world teaches us that in addition to resisting, we must learn to compromise more often. Those who know the current affairs are handsome.
But Westbrook said, no.
Many people say that Westbrook’s performance hurt the Wizards. If it is purely based on the winning percentage, it is unfair. The Wizards did not have Westbrook last season, and their winning percentage at the end of the season was 34.7%. This season the Wizards have Westbrook, and their winning percentage is still 34.7%. He is not a burden to the team, but he has indeed fallen visibly.
Throughout his career, Westbrook's shots at the basket accounted for about 35% of the total shots, while this season he only took 17.2% of the shots at the basket. , Almost only half of the career average.His shots from 3-10 feet and 16 feet to the three-point line both set career highs. With the increase of age and injuries, in most games, he can neither use his body to crush the opponent defender, nor can he pass the defender with speed.
His shooting percentage is terrible, two-pointers, three-pointers and free throws are all below the league average. In terms of true shooting percentage, he is basically at the bottom of the league. With the league's highest assist rate, his offensive victory contribution value is still negative. His free throws were particularly bad, shooting only 61.3% this season. In the game against the Clippers before the All-Star Game, Lu even tried the tactics. Westbrook made 7 of 15 free throws in that game, and the bad free throws almost cost the Wizards a good game.
If you look at the way he plays, he is still the only Westbrook in the sky and the earth, but if you focus on the effect, we must admit that it is hard for him to be like the Westbrook before I have led the team to move forward with my own strength-occasionally, just like the game he played against the Pacers, but he wants to win continuously and bring a team with insufficient talent into the playoffs. He has more than enough heart and lack of energy.
But he is still the leader of the Wizards. When he first came, Bill was obviously resistant to him, but after only one or two weeks of getting along, Bill was convinced by him: "For me, the key lies in his attitude towards the game every night. Whether it is as a one A leader, a player, a father or a man, he is impeccable. He may be the best teammate I have ever had, and he may be the leader with the strongest leadership I have ever seen."
These things Westbrook has been doing all the time,It's just that when he performed better on the court, everyone focused on his game and couldn't see what he was doing on the sidelines. When he wins the MVP proudly, the world will not pay too much attention to the series of pre-match ceremonies he performed with rookie Cameron Payne on the sidelines, but now when he is in decline, everyone will be on the sidelines because of him. He praised Hachimura 塁's hand-to-hand teaching.
He is a good player, a good teammate, and a big brother. When he won the MVP trophy, Adams, Kanter and Robertson took a photo with him. He will also stand up for Samaya Christon, pushing Stephen Curry on the court. So when he was attacked, old teammate Kendrick Perkins would be the first to stand up for him.
He would never call his teammate "Amao Agou", as long as you are his teammate, that is his family. He will never change. Whether he has 11 NBA fringe players or 11 All-Stars standing next to him, the result is the same.
He may not get a championship ring in his life, but as he and his wife defended him, this does not affect him as a successful athlete. The championship may be the ultimate goal of every star player, but it is often not the only goal. Whether you are a Westbrook fan or not, you will admit that this former MVP player is energetic enough for every second on the court. When he was at the peak, his high spirits and arrogant and domineering appearance had infected many people. Now he is still working hard and struggling in the trough to inspire more people.
You must be happy in life, precisely because the world tends to have a short time to be proud and a lot of unsatisfactory things. Many people are flattened by life,This is not shameful, but after all, it is not happy enough. At this time, open the live broadcast again to watch a Westbrook game. Look at him for decades to break through at full speed, jump shots, grab rebounds, score the ball, defend as hard as he can...
Do you think that many things are actually not that difficult?
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